VTubers Surpass Real-Life Streamers in 2025: YouTube’s Top Trends

Original Author: 庭庭迴旋踢 Edited by: VIVERSE Team

For the past three years, HTC’s VIVE Post-Wavehas closely followed the rise of virtual creators—VTubers, virtual idols, and beyond—forecasting them as the next major wave in content creation.That forecast just became fact. YouTube’s newly released 2025 Culture & Trends Report places virtual creators center stage, recognizing them as a defining force in global digital media.

Supporting this shift, recent data from Streams Charts confirms what many fans already feel: virtual creators are no longer niche. Their influence shows up in rising watch hours, increasing platform dominance, and explosive audience reach.

VTubers Go Mainstream: The Data Says So

In 2020, fewer than half of YouTube users were open to watching virtual creators. But by 2024, 57% of viewers aged 14–44 had watched VTuber or other virtual creator content within the past year—a leap in mainstream adoption.

That popularity is backed by numbers:

• VTuber-related videos now average 50 billion views annually
• A pandemic-era peak in 2023 saw that number exceed 55 billion
• Hatsune Miku, the genre-defining Vocaloid, racked up 6 billion views in 2024 alone

Check out this Hatsune Miku song released earlier this year—already surpassing 60 million views.

Beyond VTubers: 4 Types of Virtual Creators on YouTube

As seen in our previous post, VTuber Rigging 101, virtual creators are evolving—and YouTube’s 2025 report helps categorize them:

• VTubers: Anime-style characters operated by individuals or agencies like hololive or VShojo.
• Virtual Artists: Musicians like Hatsune Miku or aespa’s Naevis who perform as digital personas.
• Virtual Humans: Realistic characters such as Lil Miquela or Code Miko, often tied to brand deals and digital fashion.
• Gaming Virtual Creators: Built in spaces like VRChat or Roblox, these creators use avatars to blend performance, livestreaming, and social interaction.

Fewer VTubers, More Views: The Rise of Elite Talent

According to Streams Charts’ Q1 2025 ranking of top female streamers, 8 out of the top 10 are VTubers. Only Valkyrae (#3) and Emiru (#7) are real-life streamers.

Across platforms—YouTube, Twitch, Kick, and Korea’s SOOP—VTuber content hit 500 million watch hours in Q1 2025, an all-time high.

This happened even as the number of active VTubers dropped below 6,000, signaling a shift toward elite, high-performing talent and platform maturity.

Merch Over Money: Why IP Is the Real Moneymaker

While VTubers excel at engaging fans live, the real business model lies in IP-driven monetization—merchandise, games, and licensing.

• As of February 2025, 16 of the top 20 Super Chat earners are VTubers
• COVER Corp’s 2024 revenue hit ¥43.4 billion JPY (approx. $297 million USD) — up 43.9% year-over-year
• ¥20.5 billion JPY in merch sales alone (approx. $140 million USD) — thanks largely to the breakout hit hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME

Livestreaming? Still powerful at ¥9.3 billion JPY (approx. $63 million USD), but that’s only part of the story.

Unlike human creators, VTuber avatars are scalable brands. They can become plushies, mobile games, cafe pop-ups, even NFT drops—without the physical burnout.

Are Virtual Creators the Next Dream Job?

Sure, being a VTuber isn’t all sparkles and fanart. Burnout and mental health concerns are real. But the aspiration remains strong:

A 2025 Nifty Kids survey found that 23.2% of children want to be VTubers—more than those who want to be traditional YouTubers (18.1%).

It makes sense. This is a generation raised in Minecraft, Roblox, and FaceTime. To them, digital-first expression isn’t strange; it’s second nature.

So, if your child says they want to be a virtual creator? Don’t be surprised. They’re probably already building worlds and rehearsing behind the screen.

Ready to Start Your VTuber Journey?

Explore our beginner’s guide:

VTuber Rigging 101: How to Bring Your Virtual Persona to Life